140
THE PRESENT TRUTH.
Vor. 1, No. 9.
same as in mine. God put it there. He worded it
just right. He will see that it is fulfilled at the
proper time. God's word cannot fail. This mes-
sage will be accomplished.
When it is fulfilled, what will the world hear ?
Just the message here given, ** I'ear God, and give
glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is
come." This, it will readily be seen, is an announce-
ment that the time for God's judgment to sit has
arrived, and this announcement is made to every
nation, tongue and people ; hence it is a world-wide
message. Now sueh a message as this could be true
only in the last generation, because that is the time
when the judgment will occur. It would not have
been true if given a thousand years ago, or five
hundred years ago; for the hour of God’s judgment
did not come then. Hence, this is a last-day
message. It is positive proof that, immediately
preceding that event, God will cause a solemn
warning to be given to the world concerning it.
‘When the proper time shall come, and the signs
shall appear, and God shall eanse this message to
be heralded to the world, will it be a matter of
no account whether nen heed that warning or
not? Can men disregard it with impunity 2 Can
they mock at it and denounce it as the work of the
devil, and still enjoy the blessing of God? Can
they please God by simply passing it by wmoticed ?
How did it fare with the men who rejected Noah's
With those who did not believe the
words of John the Baptist, and other similar
messages? And will not those fare the same who
shall reject this, when God shall cause it to be
warning ?
given ?
We are not now arguing as to whether this mes-
sage 1s now being given; that is not the point.
But we are endeavoring to show that such a mes.
sage must certainly be siven, whenever the proper
time comes, immediately preceding the second
advent. Let me call attention again to that oft-
repeated assertion, that if we are only prepared to
die, we are prepured for the coming of the Lord;
and, hence, even though the Lord is coming soon.
and there are signs which show it, and the warning
is being given concerning it, yet it docs not matter
if we do not heed them, provided ow hearts are
only right. This, I firmly believe, is a subterfuge
gotten up to lull men to sleep and to close their
eyes to the truth.
To show the fallacy of this statement, look at it in
the light of other similar events. Suppose the men
who heard Noah preach had reasoned that way.
Perhaps the tlood is coming, said they, and per-
haps it is not, we do not know ; and it dont make
any difference any way; if our hearts are only
right, let it come. What wonld have been the con-
sequences? They would have perished in the flood
just as they did. Suppose that Nosh himself had
reasoned that way ; who would have built the ark ?
Who would have warned the world? Would not
God have rejected him, and let him perish with
the ungodly, while he raised up somebody else to
do that work? Suppose Lot had reasoned thus
when he heard of the threatened destruction of
Sodom. Suppose, again, that the men who heard
John the Baptist had argued thus: He says that
the Messiah is soon to come, and that he is his
forerunner ; may be it is so, and may be it is not.
We cannot tell. What matter 1s it to us? When
we see him, it will be time enough to believe on
hin. What good will it do us simply to have our
bodies put nnder the water 2 If we only love God
and obey him, we shall be safe enough, whether
the Messiah comes or not, Could they thus reject
God's work and God's message with impunity?
No: the fact is, God never causes any warning to
be given unless it is needed. And when he does
thig, it cannot be ignored nor rejected with im.
punity. Those who reject it thereby give evidence
that they do not really love God, nor his truth,
and they are not walking in the light. If they were,
they would discern the wark of God, would hear
the voice of the Master, and would gladly obey it.
( Concluded neal ont.)
Teg PW Arcu-rowes,
~ Watchinan, what of the night ?
Watchman, what of the night?
The morning cometh, and also the night 0 3 ye will enquire, engaive
ye: return, eonne
Isa, 2b: 10,12,
COMPARE THEM.
Dr. James Morris WHITON, pastor of the Congre-
gational Church, Newark, New Jersey, TU. 8. AL hues
lately published a book the title te which is © The
Resurrection.” Theliteral resurrection is discarded,
and the learned author steps square upon the plat-
form of modern Spiritualism.
We quote from the
lending editorial in the Christian World of Nov.
20,
those of Spiritualists.
De, Waitoxs.
He belioves that certain
utterances of Bt. Paul imply
that he looked upon the res-
nrrection, * not as an external
event, hut as nu spiritual de-
velopment, resulting from spir-
itn processes,’
“The result which Paul
deems it necessary to attain
before he dies is nn certain
spiritual condition. This, po-
tentially, is the resurrection.”
“He holds that the incor-
ruptible hady of the resurrec-
tion may even in this world bo
springing {rom the germ of
Spiritual life in the soul.re-
generated Christ.” —C. WW.
“Tr. Whiton discards, as
supported hy no sound evi.
dence, either philosophical or
Sceriptaral, the theory that the
soul, at death, euters a silage
of unconscionsuess, from
which it is awakened to join
the body at the judgnent-day.
When the corruptible body
has perished, the iucorrupt-
ible body will be found en-
veloping the soul, There will,
he holds, Le no transition
period whatever, no suspen-
sion of the full spiritual life
—1d.
He looks with distrust on
the doctrine of “a final judg.
ment-day, universal, scene,
and catastrophic.”
Ofthe book the Christian World says:
We put some of his utterances alongside of
Compare them.
SPIRITUALISTS,
Woodman says: “At death,
the external body of man again
mingles with the common
mask of the earth, never more
to be reclnimed or needed hy
the muan who gives iv ap.''—
Reply ta Dwight, page 82.
“Atv death, the real man,
that is to ray, his soul aml
spirit, rise from or oef of his
read body: that in the New
Yestament this is denomina-
ted anaustas’s, or the resurrec-
tin." —1d.
* How ean one {8pirit} extri-
cate itself from the depths of
aii avalanche where it has
been buried ? Low shall it cs
cape from ths mountain of
earth and stoues? To this
questing 1 am impresssd to
answer that when a human
being i8 overwhelmed by
such a catastrophe—ig thus
fenrfully buried, thus crushed
10 death, a8 it is termed—tho
spirit escapes the hady and
the mass of materinls, accord-
ing to the law of gravitation,
to 8 position above tha earth
where tho reorganization of the
clements can, without obstruc-
tion, easily take place.’ —A. J.
Davix, in Philosophy of Spiritunl
Intercourse, pp. 128,129, Of the
spirit of a man buried in a
well he says: ** Particle
sought particle, atom sought
atom, element sought element,
principle sought principle,
ete. . +», In due order of
progression, I saw developed
the perfect development of the
heatl, body, limbs, ete, —1d.,
po 13L
“Whether
we adopt his opinion or do not, we are bound to
say that his hook is full of fresh und suggestive
thought, and is inspired by a frank enthusiasm of
faith in the gospel of the resurrection,” an expres.
sion which would certainly incline us to believe
that the 7. 1. looked at least with favor upon
these views. “Frank enthusiasm of faith"! In
what? Not in the plain declaration of God's
word.
For ourselves, and we believe that we echo the
mind of our readers who love and believe God's
Bible, we prefer to believe the inspired declara-
tions concerning the resurrection and judgment.
John 5: 28, 20: « Marvel not at this: for the
hour is coming, in the which all that are in the
arave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth ;
they that have done good, unto the resurrection of
life : and they that have done evil, unto the resur-
rection of danmmation,”
1 Cor. 15: a1, #2: ** Behold, T show you a mys.
tery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eve,
at the last trump © for the trampet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we
shall be changed.”
1 Thess. 4: 16: “ FPor the Tord himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voliee
of the wrchangel, and with the trp of God: and
the dead in Christ shall rise fivst,”
Acts 17: 81: © Beeanse he hath appointed n
day, in the which he will judge the world in right.
cousness by wt wan whom he th ordained :
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in
that he hath rajsed him trom the dead.”
ev. 20: 11-1:
“Ler Gon pores,”
See algo
WORDS OF TRUTH.
Is 17 not true that the so-called Trotestant
churches of to-day are losing their power to pro-
test? Popery is marching on with rapid strides to
influence and power, and scarcely a warning voice
is raised against her. Men would fain believe that
the DCopery of the present is not the Popery of the
Dark Ages; but the ve
proelaim that church always the same. Rome can
play the martyr and preach against intolerance,
but give her the power to-day, and the massacre of
St. Bartholomew would be repeated. Her greed of
power is no less than when the Pope of Rome
placed his foot upon the necks of monarchs, The
“sure word of propheey” characterizes her as the
enemy of God, the perverter of truth; and the
Reformers were mighty through God in making
bare her intquities. But in these days of unbounded
charity (?) many of the leading divines of Protest.
antism consider this anti-Christian power as un
ally and sister church. Errorsrececived from Rome
ure held tenaciously by any, and serve as means
to draw thein nearer Popery. That so-called
charity which looks with indifference upon the
requirements of God is always ready to throw a
mantle over others in like condition. The follow-
ing from Dr. Wylie, as reported by the Christian
Leader, of Nov. 26, are words of truth, though it is
not England alone that is blind to this great
danger :(—
* Dr. Wylie in his opening lecture to the Idinburgh
Protestant Institute on John Wiclifie lamented that
England should to-day be undoing his work aud be at
this hour on the mareh back to the old prison-heuse
of the papacy. She has beng her neck to the political
yoke and is opening her ears to the spiritual trenching
of the Vatican, There is at this hour a judicial blind:
ness on the nation, which will continue till God's
purposes towards them and the papacy have been
fulfilled, and then the interest in that question will
return with a rush, and with it will come lightnings,
and thunderings, and the great earthquake,”
dogmas of the system
RELIGIOUS GAMBLING,
Mucit has been said of late. not only hy the
religious, but by the secular press, on the increase
of gambling, Tt is stated that on one section of
the Great astern Railway, in nearly all the smiok-
ing carriages, the tables are used almost wholly
for card playing. Complaints have also been made
in regard to the great amount of gumbling on
ocean steamers. Dut why inveigh so winch against
this vice in these places when religious socicties
have their lotteries, their rattles, ete. ? We com
mend the following from the Christian Coninon-
wealth, to our readers as a noteworthy sign of the
times, and we anticipate that the (. ¢. will have
to “denounce,” it many times before the evil “dics
out.” But in spite of the denunciations of good
men the evil is increasing instead of © dying out.”
How must the pure and holy God look upon these
things. He justifies no evil that good may come.
His frown is upon such as do them. And these
things are all the more potent for evil because
done under the garb of religion. Truly it conld be
said to such as to the Jews of old, © The narue of
God is blasphemed . . . through you.”
3: 0d,
Sd
Tom,
Here is the quotation referred to shove i —
More than once we have strongly denounced the
pernicious vice of gambling, in all its varied forms,
and we expect to do ib again many tines before the
evil practice dics out. Certainly we eannot be
silent when we find that even the church itself
Is infected with this pestilens disease. The rafiling
which goes on at bazaurs is a species of gambling,
and it is marvellons that Chyistinn men should
countenance it in any way. tis a lottery, pure sand
sunple, At Birminghwon the other day, €5 and £10
notes were taliled ato Congregational bazaar, This
is just ax much grinbling as betting on horseoraees, op
plying at games of chance in the gambling hells of
Mente Carlo. How can Christian men protest ag
the vices of the world whilst their own hinds
tuted? What ave the ministers of Dinning
that they have not uttered a protest pb this wean.
dalous transaction? We should He to know, too,
where the eyes of the police were, Those gentlemen
are xharp enotgh to detect ordinary ealprits, but they
wink at violations of the law on the part of the very
& pol
an about